Too right you should be frustrated…

So, there I was tonight sitting in a relatively major traffic jam, listening to the Olympics and relaxing. I had nowhere to be so the easiest thing to do is just to chill out, isn’t it? I have 20 minutes where I can be and will be nowhere else, so why stress?

That got me thinking.

I was watching the cars that seem to be really, really eager to get nowhere; pushing up behind the car in front. Filling gaps of a few metres with misplaced haste as if them filling the gap makes the queue move quicker. And I asked myself the question “why is it people get so frustrated when they have a perfect chance to do nothing yet do nothing when they have every chance to do something?”. It sounds complex but I don’t think it is. I think it’s really simple.

Pictures. It’s all a matter of pictures.

When people sit in traffic jams, they have a clear picture of where they want to be playing inside their heads. The gap between sitting in the jam and that picture of where they should/want to be causes the frustration. Take the phrase ‘I’ve got better places to be than sitting in this bloody traffic’ as an example.

So why don’t we do that in our lives? Why don’t you try running a picture of a fitter, healthier, happier you inside your head and run it sooooo vividly that the fact you aren’t there already causes you so much frustration you would do anything to be there now? Why is it that we use all our mind’s incredible resources on traffic jams and so little on making ourselves who we want to be?

Run the picture now. Be frustrated at the fact you aren’t there already. Promise yourself that yo are going to use that frustration as fuel to close the gap, to drive up the arse of the things you don’t want until they get out of your bloody way and you can get to where you want to be instead.Vroom, vroom, people! You’ve got better places to be than where you are 🙂